For those who like H!P ^_^, plus a learning experience!

After a long drought of no new permanent groups (was stuck with Mobekimasu for so long), Tsunku surprising announced in February that we would FINALLY get a new group that consisted of 5 Kenshuusei (which some were of popular choices) and Yuka Miyazaki who at that time was under Up-Front and not H!P until this announcement. Later on, we would learn of the group’s name Juice=Juice as a way to make H!P seem more fresh and nice, but Tsunku also wanted to make the group “cool”. Of course like S/mileage, they begun their careers as an indies group and released three singles until Aina Otsuka shockingly announced she was leaving H!P right when they were going to debut as a major label group. Initially, it was said it was because of contract issues, but she left because of her self-esteem of her vocals (according to her directly).

After Aina’s departure, Juice=Juice would continue on to fully debut in H!P and since then has really opened up to different genres. Also, have really came out into the open to really fit in amongst the H!P groups! They have been the longest tenure so far, but until 2017, everything changed it seems.

2017 brought us some rather surprising news with the addition of Ruru Dambara & Country Girls’ Nanami Yanagawa to add some life into Juice=Juice bringing them to 7 members (the current highest number they’ve got). They’ve only got to release 2 singles (1 of them digitally) before another addition was added!

In June of 2018, it was announce quite out of the blue that Manaka Inaba (former member of Country Girls and leader of the Hokkaido Kenshuusei) was deemed fit enough to return to idol duties by joining Juice=Juice. So NOW we have our biggest lineup of Juice=Juice since conception! Though it wouldn’t last very long…

After leader Yuka graduated, it was announced in a surprise announcement that they were going to add two new members to the group; Yume Kudo & Riai Matsunaga.

Style of Music: Initially, Tsunku wanted to make them a cool group so their first few songs were just that, cool songs that had punch and energy. Since then, they’ve broadened their genres to the point where they have cool songs, but also ethnic and cute songs!

This is the group’s debut PV, I fell in love with the song and really worked with showing the group off. Also, one of two PVs where Aina is seen…(yeah she was my favorite member, but that’s different now…Kanatomo took over that role XD)

This is Senobi, their recent A-side, it still shows the group pulling off cool songs, which is like every other current H!P group, but hey, I like it 😛

Overall: When I first heard the announcement of the group, I was floored and happy because a lot of my favorite members were here (Karin, Aina, and Akari). Plus the fact they would be treated as a “cool” group meant a lot of awesome songs would be coming from them and initially it was true (the exception would be “Ten Made Nobore!” simply because I felt that was more of a Kenshuusei song). Yeah, I was really sad to see Aina leave, but I grew to love the group as time went on, plus Tomoko and Sayuki have become really strong singers. I do wonder if and when a new generation will happen, but I’m not going to hold my breath.